Good practice

Chile's Ley Karin — Mandatory Workplace Harassment & Violence Prevention Law

Chile · Santiago · See the Chile profile

Chile's Ley Karin (Law 21.643), in force since 1 August 2024, mandates employer protocols and fast-track investigations for workplace harassment and violence. In its first year, the Labour Directorate logged 44,212 complaints, 66.4% filed by women, and confirmed violations in ove

44,212

Complaints logged, first year (Aug 2024-Jul 2025)

66.4 %

Complaints filed by women (Aug 2024-Jul 2025)

21.3 %

Violations confirmed in closed inspections (Aug 2024-Jul 2025)

Details

Maturity: Scaling
Promoter: Dirección del Trabajo (Chilean Labour Directorate), Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare
Period: 2024-2025
Keywords: labour law, occupational safety, workplace harassment, gender-based violence

Context

Chile's Ley Karin (Law 21.643), named after a nurse who died by suicide after workplace bullying, entered into force on 1 August 2024, mandating employer prevention protocols, confidential reporting channels, and fast-track investigations for workplace harassment and violence.

Results

In its first full year (August 2024-July 2025), the Labour Directorate logged 44,212 complaints (66.4% filed by women), carried out 2,117 labour inspections, issued 993 fines, and confirmed a violation in 21.3% of closed, classified inspections; by December 2025 cumulative complaints reached 66,596, with monthly volume down from about 4,800 to 3,599.

Conclusions

Mediation centres reportedly 'collapsed' within the law's first month, with average investigation delays of 4-6 months against a 30-day target; the Labour Minister described the Directorate as under-resourced, and implementation has been markedly weaker in the public sector than in private firms.

Implementation

Implementation detail (cost, timeline, staffing, conditions for success) is not yet available for this practice.

Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

C-NAPSE web research — accessed 2026-07-05
Dirección del Trabajo (Chilean Labour Directorate), Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare — accessed 2026-07-05
Dirección del Trabajo - one-year balance — accessed 2026-07-05
EMOL - implementation delays — accessed 2026-07-05
Subsecretaría del Trabajo — accessed 2026-07-05
CIPER Chile - public sector caveat — accessed 2026-07-05

Attachments

Source image

Quality score: 85/100

How is this calculated?

Evidence: Observational / pre–post

Top 22% in this catalogue (719 scored practices)

Scores cluster high, so position within the catalogue is often more telling than the number alone.

Evaluation

Evaluated by C-NAPSE

Score profile — the dimensions behind the score — how it's computed

Transferability / replicability2/3

Mandatory-protocol, fast-track-investigation anti-harassment laws are a recognised model aligned with ILO Convention 190 and transferable to other jurisdictions, though Chile's specific administrative process is only about 18 months old.

Impact on gender equality1/1

44,212 complaints were logged in the law's first year, two-thirds filed by women, showing large-scale real-world uptake of the new legal channel.

Effectiveness1/1

The Labour Directorate confirmed violations in 21.3% of closed inspections and issued 993 fines in year one, evidencing real enforcement rather than a purely symbolic law.

Efficiency0/1

Chile's own Labour Minister acknowledged the Directorate was under-resourced, with average case-resolution delays of 4-6 months against a 30-day legal target and reportedly 'collapsed' mediation centres in the first month (EMOL).

Evaluated outcomes1/1

Detailed, dated statistics were directly confirmed from Chile's Dirección del Trabajo and independently corroborated by EMOL and Subsecretaría del Trabajo reporting.

Sustainability1/1

The law remains fully in force with active, ongoing enforcement infrastructure 18 months after taking effect, despite acknowledged strain.

Achievement / evidence1/1

Tens of thousands of complaints processed and nearly 1,000 fines issued in year one represent concrete, measurable enforcement achievement.

Gender-mainstreaming embedding1/1

The law directly targets workplace gender-based harassment, evidenced by two-thirds of complainants being women.

Curator validation1/1

Figures are cross-verified across a government source (Dirección del Trabajo) and independent Chilean news (EMOL, CIPER Chile), which also surface an honest implementation-delay caveat.

Cite this

Evidoria. Chile's Ley Karin — Mandatory Workplace Harassment & Violence Prevention Law. Persistent ID: a66a3493-1e4d-4e9b-8395-efa87a0a925e.

Export as decision brief (PDF)

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